Boughton under Blean · 22.9 road miles north-west
Roofers in Boughton under Blean
A Swale village with Staplestreet and Boughton Street conservation areas beside it, and a Grade II chapel among its listed buildings. Describe the trouble overhead, and the survey sorts the work that is needed from the work that can wait.
- Conservation areas by the village
- Staplestreet and Boughton Street, designated by Swale Borough Council
- Listed on the national list
- Style House, Scarbutts and the Methodist Chapel
- Who checks a re-roof against the Building Regulations
- STG Building Control Partnership, 01634 331133
- Licence when scaffold stands on the street
- Kent County Council, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027
What the survey makes of a Boughton under Blean roof
What we found
Hip tiles loose, the courses below still sound
What it fairly needs
Rebed and fix the hips, nothing more.
What we found
House close to Boughton Street's conservation area
What it fairly needs
Swale's answer before a price.
What we found
Battens soft along the whole rear slope
What it fairly needs
Strip that slope and re-batten it.
The fair ledger
Conservation areas, listed roofs and a licence for the street scaffold
Boughton under Blean sits beside Staplestreet and Boughton Street conservation areas, with listed buildings on the national list. Three entries follow: the designations, a listed roof, and the rules a re-roof meets, with a verdict on each.
Entry 01Designated ground
Staplestreet and Boughton Street: settle the designation before the price
Swale Borough Council has designated conservation areas called Staplestreet and Boughton Street near the village. Whether your house stands inside one is a matter of the address, and it is settled before the work is planned.
What designation changes for a roof
A conservation area is land a council has set aside for the character of its buildings. If your house stands inside Staplestreet or Boughton Street, we find that out at the survey and tell you straight away, instead of discovering it with half a slope stripped and a neighbour asking questions over the fence.
Plain re-roofing is normally permitted development, meaning it goes ahead without a planning application, and that stays true inside a conservation area. Altering the roof's shape is a different matter, and dormers in particular are a planning question, which our planning guide for roof work answers in full. An Article 4 direction may strip other rights from a house, so ask Swale Borough Council about yours.
The survey is where this is dealt with, since it is the one moment when we are standing at your gate with the address in hand. You get the council's answer and our verdict in a single message, and the written price, when it comes, rests on both.
Myth: A conservation area means no roof there can be touched.
Fact: Plain re-roofing is normally permitted development there as well. Changes to the roof's shape need a planning conversation, and an Article 4 direction can reduce rights, so the council is asked.
What happens at the survey itself
- Your address goes to Swale Borough Council before anything is priced.
- Ridge, hips and verges are photographed from the ground and again from the ladder.
- The council is asked whether an Article 4 direction touches your street.
- You receive its answer in writing beside the verdict, so the two are read together.
- The scaffold is planned once, so ridge, verges and gutters are all dealt with in a single visit. Our pitched roofing service sets out how a slope is surveyed.
Entry 02Listed roofs
Style House, Scarbutts and the Methodist Chapel on the national list
Style House is listed Grade II*, while Scarbutts and the Methodist Chapel are Grade II. A listed roof is read against its list entry before anyone prices it.
How a listing reaches a roof
Historic England's national list gives Style House entry 1069156, Scarbutts entry 1069164 and the Methodist Chapel entry 1069155. If your own house is listed, quote its entry number when you write to the council, because the number carries the officer to the right building without a search.
Roof work on a listed house stays permitted development in principle. Listed building consent then sits on top as a second layer, whenever a job touches what makes the building special. That test is in section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. It is why a new covering, a moved ridge or a different chimney is treated as a separate conversation from a repair. Swale Borough Council is asked before we price, and its reply reaches you in writing.
We also note every roof plane that belongs to the property, from the main slopes to a porch or a lean-to, and photograph each one, so a small roof is not forgotten when the large one is being discussed.
Does a listed house in Boughton under Blean need consent to re-roof?
It needs listed building consent where the work affects the building's character, and the house keeps its permitted development rights as well. Swale Borough Council decides which side of that line your job falls on, so the address and a description of the work go to it first, and its answer reaches you before any agreement is signed.
One hip tile cracked, rest sound
Replace that tile only
Listed roof, covering to change
Council consent first
Valley lead split along the join
Relay the valley in lead
Questions a listed roof puts to the surveyor
- Is the covering as it was built, or the remains of an earlier repair in another material?
- Can ridge and hips be rebedded and re-fixed so that nothing looks different afterwards?
- Would any part of the job change the building's character as the council reads it?
- Which parts can be mended in the original material, so that no change is made at all?
- Whether lead around a chimney or a valley can be repaired in lead, since a patch in another metal alters the look.
- Whether the gutters and fascia belong to the listing, or can be renewed without touching what the list entry protects.
Where the answer is a full re-cover, the roof replacement service page shows how that work is sequenced.
The Portal test and the weight rule
The Planning Portal puts the dividing line in two figures. A re-roof goes ahead without a building regulations application if it touches less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof. The envelope means walls, floor, roof, windows, doors, roof windows and rooflights added together, so a window or a door you are changing counts towards the first figure. Approval is needed for any new covering that weighs 15 per cent or more above the old one, whatever the area, and the Portal advises asking an engineer who specialises in structures, or a surveyor, ahead of any work, so the weight of the new covering is compared on paper instead of guessed at from the ground.
Swale's building control is run by the STG Building Control Partnership, on 01634 331133. Ring it when a job could cross either line, and we will ask the same question at the survey, because a roof that has been re-covered cannot easily be un-covered to prove what was there.
Our gutters, soffits and fascias service covers the roofline in the same visit, so the scaffold goes up once and the eaves are not left half done.
Entry 03Re-roof rules
What a re-roof needs: the Portal test, STG and a scaffold licence
Under the Planning Portal's test, a small re-roof can avoid a building regulations application, and any scaffold standing on the pavement needs a highway licence.
What sets the price
- How much of the roof is affected
- Whether the new covering is heavier
- Where the scaffold has to stand
One written total price
25 per cent
of the building envelope: the Planning Portal's re-roofing limit
alongside less than 50 per cent of the roof
A scaffold beside the road
Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence for scaffolding that obstructs the highway. In Kent, the licensing body is Kent County Council, each permit covers 7 calendar days, and its householder guidance is that the scaffolding firm should submit the application. We arrange it with our scaffolder.
A scaffold set wholly inside your boundary needs no highway licence. The survey settles which case yours is, by looking at where the eaves, the pavement and the front gate sit. Kent County Council wants applications, renewals included, 5 working days before the start date, which is why a start date is agreed only after that check. A job that overruns its first permit is planned for in advance, with the renewal lodged in time, instead of being left to chance on the day.
From Folkestone out to Boughton under Blean
Boughton under Blean is 22.9 road miles north-west of Folkestone, around 31 minutes at the wheel. A phone photo of the trouble is enough to begin. Once we have seen the roof ourselves, one written total price follows, and nothing is booked before you have read it. If you would sooner talk it through, the number is on every page, and WhatsApp reaches us just as well.
Boughton under Blean roof questions, answered
How is a ridge on a Boughton under Blean roof checked before it is rebedded?
We look for cracked mortar, tiles that have crept out of line and any mechanical fixing already holding the ridge. Marley says installing to BS 5534 is not required by law, and that mortar alone is no longer relied on to hold a covering in place. Where the courses beneath are sound, the ridge is rebedded on fixings and the rest of the roof is left exactly as it is. The verdict names the route, rebed or dry-fix, with its reason.
Do Staplestreet and Boughton Street rule out a re-roof?
No. Plain re-roofing is normally permitted development even in a conservation area, though dormers are a planning question and the guide covers them. Other rights can be withdrawn by an Article 4 direction, which Swale Borough Council can tell you about for your address. We put the address to the council at the survey and pass on what it says before any price is written.
Whose job is the scaffold licence for a Boughton under Blean house?
Kent County Council is the licensing body for scaffold on public roads here, at £52 per week in 2026 to 2027, and Kent County Council's householder guidance names the scaffolding company as the party that submits the application. Where the scaffold can stand wholly inside your boundary, no highway licence is needed at all. Our survey establishes which of the two applies to your house, and that is settled before a start date is fixed.
Does a small re-roof in Boughton under Blean need building regulations approval?
The Planning Portal sets two limits: less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof. Staying inside both means an application is not normally needed, whereas approval is required for any covering that adds 15 per cent or more to the roof's weight, so the weight of what goes on is part of the survey. STG Building Control Partnership handles building control for Swale and can be asked on 01634 331133 about your particular roof.
How can I find out whether my Boughton under Blean house is listed?
Search your address on Historic England's national list, where every listed building has its own entry number. Style House, Scarbutts and the Methodist Chapel all appear there, for instance. Swale Borough Council can also confirm a listing for you. If yours is listed, mention it at the first call, since the council is consulted before any roof work on a listed house is priced.
Tell us about your Boughton under Blean roof
You'll get one written total price.